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Estrogens are a family of hormones that are essential for growth and development and are produced naturally by living things including humans. Other estrogens are produced synthetically for products such as birth control pills, and these estrogens can eventually enter the ocean when pills are flushed down toilets or thrown away. Synthetic estrogens in birth control pills also enter the ocean after being excreted from the body and flushed down toilets. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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